They key word here is 'educated', as there has been a lot of outrage, poutrage, and fauxtrage over this year's Central Park 'Shakespeare in the Park' production of Julius Caesar , in which Caesar is portrayed with a blond combover like Vulgarmort's. I'm going to pause here to indicate that Julius Caesar, while being self-promoting, power-hungry and ruthless, was hypercompetent and a fine literary stylist... much unlike Vulgarmort. There's no real comparison between the two men. Also, as numerous pundits have pointed out, the play underscores the dangers of political assassination, and the chaos which results from using violence for political ends. The play is most definitely not a glorification or endorsement of political violence... but try telling that to the dumbasses.

The real tragedy here is the fact that the people who claim to be the defenders of Western Civilization are people who are totally unfamiliar with it. These people are proud ignoramuses, the sort of people who believe that the Western Canon refers to Fort Apache. Growing up in the Northeast, I grew up thinking that the American ideal was a population in which even the working class was educated, a nation of literate farmers, longshoremen, and factory workers. I believed in a nation which values free productions of Shakespearean plays, which sees itself as a continuation of a classical tradition which Shakespeare, a true Renaissance man, referenced in certain of his plays.

The two alt-right knuckleheads, or grifters as the case may well be, who engineered this stunt should be sentenced to actually reading Julius Caesar, and perhaps writing essays on the themes presented in the play. It really would be a shame if a bunch of idiots could truly declare "Show's over Shakespeare."

3 comments:

Meh - I don't get why you think there's anything noteworthy or interesting in ignorance (whether genuine or feigned sure doesn't make any difference). ANYTHING they can come up with to highlight the foul evil of their opponents or the victimization of their heroes will be shouted in spittle-flecked outrage for at least one news cycle. Some will care, others will pretend to care, but at the end of the day, no one will remember it at all, and nothing will have been affected by the sturm und drang.

It's all sound and fury, signifying nothing...

(BTW, the St. Crispins Day speech from Henry V gives me chills every time I read it - kinda like Roy Batty's 'tears in rain' monologue...

It's a certain fascination, especially reading that Shakespeare companies all across the country have been getting threats. It's like the 'Great Simplification' from A Canticle for Leibowitz, without the excuse of a nuclear holocaust.

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The Big Bad Bald Bastard is a character played by Monsieur _______ of the City of Y______. The role of the Bastard is a handy one to play on subways, walking the streets, and in dive-bars, when being a nerdy, bookish sort is not to one's advantage.